Celtic came out on top in the first derby of the season as Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths struck second-half goals at Ibrox to move Celtic eight points clear of their bitter rivals at the top of the Premiership.

The Hoops made it six wins out of the last seven against Rangers after breaking down Pedro Caixinha’s side who made life difficult in the first half and their class showed in the end as the visitors ran out worthy winners.

And the derby victory is a big boost for Brendan Rodgers who can now take his side to Brussels on a high for their Champions League clash with Anderlecht.

The win now means Celtic have gone an incredible 57 games unbeaten – with no sign the run will come to an end anytime soon.

There were a couple of surprises in both starting line-ups with the experienced Kenny Miller left on the bench for the home side who started with Carlos Pena.

Kenny Miller started on the bench (Image: Daily Record)

And James Forrest, despite two goals in each of his last two games, didn’t makes the Celtic XI with Tom Rogic in along with Stuart Armstrong as Olivier Ntcham was named as a substitute.

It was the usual frantic start with Celtic looking the more positive, Wes Foderingham touching a Rogic effort over and Leigh Griffiths sending a free kick just wide.

But the Light Blues grew in belief and caused some problems without making any real clear cut chances with a hopeful penalty claim turned down when Alfredo Morelos went down under Jozo Simunovic’s challenge.

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Patrick Roberts was Celtic’s biggest attacking threat, causing Lee Hodson problems, and the on loan Manchester City man picked out Amrstrong for a shot easily saved in the end by Foderingham.

A pulsating first 45 minutes ended with Pedro Caixhina and Hoops skipper Scott Brown clashing as the teams made their way off the break.

And just four minutes after the teams emerged again it was Celtic who grabbed that all-important first goal.

Rogic slams home the first goal (Image: DAILY RECORD)

Wesley Foderingham is helpless as Rogic’s shot screams into the net

A scuffed from Roberts from a Griffiths corner fell to Rogic and the Aussie fired high into the roof of the net.

Caixinha changed things soon after with Kenny Miller thrown on for Pena and Graham Dorrans handed the veteran striker the armband.

Rangers kept pressing and Craig Gordon stunningly saved from a close-range Morelos header before Windass went close with a rasping drive.

Alfredo Morelos sees his header stunningly saved by Craig Gordon

Morelos can’t believe his effort was stopped

Leigh Griffiths celebrates putting Celtic 2-0 up

But it was Celtic who struck again to kill the game after 65 minutes, Griffiths latching on to a defence-splitting pass from Roberts before firing under Foderingham for his first league goal since the opening day win against Hearts.

Five talking points

Go selector

Brendan Rodgers got his selection spot on again as he continued his brilliant record in Old Firm derby games - the Celtic boss having now won six out of seven since moving to Scotland.

James Forrest was dropped to the bench despite scoring two goals in each of his last two matches and Leigh Griffiths started up front despite Moussa Dembele back to fitness.

But Patrick Roberts was in sparkling form for the Hoops and his pass in behind the Gers defence set up Griffiths for Celtic’s killer second goal.

The Hoops boss will now turn his attention to the Champions League test of Anderlecht in midweek as he looks to come up with the goods again.

Still not good enough

This was always going to be about so much more than just the result for Caixinha who desperately needed his side to produce a performance.

And they couldn’t be faulted for effort and commitment in the first half as the home side certainly battled despite being under the cosh early on.

Pedro Caixinha reacts (Image: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne)

But the second half showed just how far they have to go to match their rivals as Celtic’s class really showed and their big players stepped up and that has to be a real concern.

Gers couldn’t have been any worse than the last derby when they went down to a 5-1 loss but while it was an improvement on that they are still well short.

The display for much of the first half is little consolation as they lie eight points behind Celtic after just eight games and isn’t good enough for the money spent in the summer.

Reffin’ hell

Caixinha said he was taking note of the performance of referees against his side and Craig Thomson won’t be getting a favourable review.

A hopeful Alfredo Morelos penalty claim was turned down when the Colombian went down under Jozo Simunovic’s challenge.

Graham Dorrans shoots at goal (Image: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne)

Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts - for fouls on Josh Windass and Ross McCrorie respectively - were then lucky to escape yellow cards as Thomson looked to keep his cards in his pocket.

But that meant there was a furious reaction when Morelos became the first player to have his name taken for a foul on Dedryck Boyata before the Belgian became the first Hoops player to ironic cheers from the home fans.

What’s the McCrorie?

Despite the defeat, Ibrox teenager Ross McCrorie emerged with credit after he was thrown straight in at the deep end for his Old Firm baptism.

And in the absence of the injured Bruno Alves there were more questions asked of Fabio Cardoso’s performance as McCrorie looked the more solid of the pair.

Ross McCrorie

When the home fans started singing “He’s one of our own” before the half time whistle had even sounded it was obvious McCrorie had made a good impression in his first start.

The 19-year-old had been hyped up by Pedro Caixinha and his praise was justified as he showed he has the temperament to go far in the game.

Fellow youngsters Myles Beerman and David Bates struggled in this fixture when thrown in last season but not McCrorie who was composed for most of the game and made a great early interception when Tom Rogic was through.

Flare players

Rodgers insisted this famous fixture continues to be box office and this was a good spectacle.

The first half in particular was pulsating. A typical, frantic derby in an electric atmosphere although we could have done without the flare thrown from the Celtic end after Tom Rogic’s opener.

Leigh Griffiths and a steward try to extinguish a flare on the pitch (Image: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne)